Milind Kamble, industrialist and founder president of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI), was in the city for a media interaction at the Patrakar Bhawan, Navi peth on Tuesday. Kamble was recently appointed as the chairperson of the board of governors of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu by the IIM Board in Delhi. He is part of various Government of India bodies, including the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, where he is the board member. He talks to Dheeraj Bengrut about his new role and his plans for the future.

I am sure you are excited about the new role as the chairperson of IIM Jammu. What are your plans for the institution?

I have already worked as the member of the board of governers of IIM Kashipur for three years. So, I have the academic experience. Now, being the head of IIM Jammu, has increased my responsibility. I will be focussing on three major things – academic excellence, industrial connect with students and infrastructure for the institution. On a personal front, I want to create a global market for the apples grown in Jammu and Kashmir and also market it across the globe as ‘Indian Apples’.

How is the work of DICCI progressing and what are the challenges you face while working with the entrepreneurs?

Ever since the DICCI was started in 2005, we have been able to achieve our goals significantly by bringing all Dalit entrepreneurs under one umbrella.Thousands of small scale entrepreneurs have changed from job seekers to job givers. Today, the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe entrepreneurs are getting Government of India work tenders of at least Rs 24,000 crore per year as per the government policy to give a certain percentage of government work orders to SC and ST entrepreneurs and small scale industry owners. Not getting skilled staff for small scale as well as big industries is a major problem. While getting funds to start a business is not difficult, getting skilled labour is.

How do you think the BJP government worked in the last five years when compared to the earlier governments in the country?

I have worked with the United Progressive Alliance(UPA) and also National Democratic Alliance( NDA). With due respect to all the political leaders, there were various schemes for the common man in the UPA government, but these did not reach the public properly whereas in NDA government many innovative ideas like Jan Dhan Yojana, Startup India, Make in India have reached effectively to the grassroots level. So I would say Modi government is better than the UPA government.